How to Grow Your TikTok Following [Expert Insights + Data]

Rising a following on TikTok can really feel daunting. Belief me, I do know. I first created a TikTok to advertise my YouTube channel, weblog, and podcast again in 2022. Although I managed to achieve over a thousand followers in only a few days, that was a couple of years in the past.

Now, I am beginning a brand new TikTok to advertise my content material for HubSpot, and I can see already the panorama has modified. Luckily, I nonetheless know a factor or two about methods to develop on TikTok, and I’ve performed sufficient analysis to understand how to take action in 2024. 

With out additional ado, let’s dive into the perfect suggestions and methods to develop your TikTok.

Why Rising Your Followers on TikTok is Essential

Rising your following on TikTok will enhance your model’s visibility. Like I mentioned, I joined TikTok to advertise my YouTube channel, weblog, and podcast. And I can not let you know what number of instances I’d see feedback saying, “I noticed you on TikTok and knew I needed to observe your channel.” 

I’ve additionally discovered via HubSpot’s most up-to-date Shopper Tendencies survey that TikTok is particularly essential for those who’re promoting services or products. In our survey, nearly all of our respondents (37%) say they like discovering new merchandise through short-form movies akin to TikToks or Instagram Reels. 

Rising your TikTok can be a wonderful approach to get the eye of Gen Z. Gen Z is projected to have the quickest progress in spending energy, reaching about $12 trillion by 2030.

So, if you wish to faucet into the Gen Z market, you may be glad to know TikTok is a well-liked app amongst them. In response to our survey, 30% of Gen Z shoppers say TikTok is their favourite app, and 72% of Gen Z shoppers reported utilizing TikTok previously three months. 

Now you realize why TikTok is essential. Let me offer you what you got here right here for and current 6 methods to develop your TikTok following.

1. Area of interest down.

Whenever you attempt to enchantment to everybody, you wind up attracting nobody as a result of nobody is aware of what to anticipate from you. You will find yourself posting content material that appeals to at least one crowd however turns off one other. 

So, area of interest down by researching your target market and creating content material that’s interesting to them. You are able to do this through focus teams, surveys, creating purchaser personas, or observing what opponents in your business are doing to have interaction their viewers. 

For instance, trend is a well-liked class on TikTok. A lot in order that the hashtag #trend has over 66.6 million views on the platform.

If you wish to put up fashion-related content material, you would possibly get misplaced on this aggressive vertical. As an alternative, I counsel specializing in a sub-niche like fashion suggestions and mid-sized trend, which has a fraction of the views however a extra engaged viewers.

Considered one of my favourite fashion-related creators on TikTok is Andrea’s Trend Galaxy. Slightly than sort out a variety of trend matters, Andrea focuses on educating her viewers methods to fashion particular items or methods to gown for sure events. 

Within the TikTok under, Andrea reveals viewers methods to fashion a metallic mini skirt as a prime. She even provides her personal aptitude to her movies by incorporating her many pets. 

2. Put up on the proper time.

Typically, it isn’t simply what you put up however when you put up. That is very true on TikTok.

A current HubSpot Blogs survey of 1,400+ international entrepreneurs discovered the perfect time to put up to TikTok is between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Since TikTok is fashionable with the Gen Z crowd  — and so they’re in class for a superb a part of the day — the morning and early afternoon “lifeless zone” is smart.

When posting content material on TikTok, keep clear of those gradual hours and take a look at posting in direction of the top of the week or through the weekend.

3. Duet or Sew top-performing movies.

Some of the fashionable movies on my TikTok is one I sewed with a well known creator. It has about 12,000 views, whereas most of my movies would garner a median of 300-5,000 views.

TikTok’s Sew allows customers to play as much as 5 seconds of another person’s video as an intro to their very own. That is often performed to answer the unique creator, reply questions, or contribute to a viral subject.

One other useful instrument is TikTok’s Duet characteristic, which helps you to play your video subsequent to a different person’s video. That is ultimate if you wish to add commentary or a humorous response to the unique video. Here is a duet I did some time in the past with Steve from Blue’s Clues.

The easiest way to leverage these options is by partaking with top-performing movies in your area of interest. You are able to do this by utilizing the search bar and typing key phrases referring to your model.

Then, as soon as you’ve got zeroed in on a video you want, faucet the Sew or Duet button and let your creativity fly.

However there’s extra — you may also encourage others to Duet or Sew your movies.

For instance, Tesco, a British grocery chain, asks customers to Duet the next video for an opportunity to change into the brand new voice of their checkout machine:

The outcome? Tesco’s authentic video scored 22 million views and 1000’s of Duet submissions.

4. Take part in a problem (or create your personal).

It appears there is a new viral problem making waves each time I log into TikTok, and I’ve seen how they’ll explode a follower depend. The trick is discovering the correct one to your model.

For instance, the horror movie A Quiet Place: Day One lately spawned a problem on TikTok referred to as The Quiet Place Problem. The problem was impressed by a cat within the movie that manages to stay quiet sufficient to maintain alien monsters from detecting him and his caretakers. 

To partake within the problem, TikTok customers should run round whereas holding their cat to see in the event that they’d survive the movie in actual life. 

This problem was good for cat-themed TikTok accounts like @realsirpounce, managed by a person named Carson, who has 4 feline companions. Try Carson’s try on the problem under.

The video went viral, gaining greater than 1 million likes.

You can too create your personal problem — simply make certain it is comparatively easy to do. For instance, Chipotle began the #LidFlip problem, which inspired customers to flip the lid of their burrito bowl with fashion:

Within the first six days, the problem generated over 100,000 video responses. Much more spectacular, it created a record-breaking gross sales day for Chipotle.

5. Leap on trending sounds and songs.

88% of TikTok customers say sound is crucial to the TikTok expertise. Due to the algorithm, it is also crucial for driving extra engagement.

TikTok has an intensive library of sounds — however you need to prioritize those that get a variety of love from the neighborhood. It is because the TikTok algorithm tends to favor movies that leverage trending sounds.  

For instance, the preferred video on my TikTok has nearly 100,000 views, far more than my common common, and it incorporates a sound that was trending on the time and was steadily used within the anime and manga neighborhood (the area of interest my account occupies). 

To discover a stylish sound that works to your model, take a look at TikTok’s Artistic Heart, which ranks the preferred sounds every day. You can too filter by area, which is useful in case your viewers lives in a unique location from you.

6. Cross-promote your TikTok.

Odds are your viewers is lively on different social media in addition to TikTok. Because of this, it is essential to cross-promote your movies to different channels, akin to Instagram or YouTube.

Simply keep away from together with the TikTok watermark in your movies when importing to different platforms, as this will have an effect on whether or not your content material is prioritized within the algorithm. 

To keep away from this concern, I often create a single video that’s stored to about 60 seconds lengthy, and I add the unique to every platform individually. 

For instance, I interviewed actress, host, and filmmaker Cheyenne Ewulu of Amazon Prime’s Anime Membership for my podcast Nerds At Work w/ TsundEri.

To cross-promote the episode on each Instagram and TikTok, I took a 60-second clip from the interview and uploaded it to TikTok and Instagram Reels individually reasonably than downloading it from TikTok and reposting it to the latter platform. 

7. Embrace Related Hashtags.

Hashtags are key to discovering and connecting with the correct neighborhood on TikTok. A fantastic instance of that is #BookTok on the app. The hashtag is utilized by each readers and authors to seek out, advocate, and promote books. 

The tag was instrumental within the reputation of the New York Occasions Finest Vendor “It Ends with Us” by Colleen Hoover. The e book initially got here out in 2016 however entered the perfect sellers’ listing in 2021 after it gained reputation with the #Booktok neighborhood. 

Only a few years later, the e book was tailored to the large display in a movie starring Blake Full of life and Justin Baldoni. 

So, scroll via TikTok to see what hashtags your target market is utilizing to seek out content material like yours.

For instance, for those who’re a shoe retailer, begin by together with #sneakers or #sneakers in your movies and look to see what different hashtags pop up in movies inside your area of interest. 

8. Use trending songs.

There may be by no means a scarcity of trending songs on TikTok, so that you’re positive to seek out one which matches the vibe of your content material and your model. 

For instance, actress Nicola Coughlan of the Netflix collection Bridgerton cleverly used the track “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter to advertise the present’s pink carpet premiere in Italy. 

Couphlan’s character on the present, Penelope, is in love with one other character named Colin, and followers have dubbed the couple “Polin” (pronounced like “pollen”).

“Espresso” grew to become followers’ anthem for the couple because of the verse “My honey bee, come get this pollen.” Naturally, Coughlan used it within the TikTok video under. 

9. Use closed-captions. 

The extra accessible your video is the extra folks can take pleasure in it, interact, and move it on. One approach to make your video extra accessible is to incorporate closed-captions. Luckily, TikTok robotically provides closed captions to movies uploaded to its platform. 

Nevertheless, the auto-generated captions aren’t all the time correct, which is why I counsel going via the captions and modifying them for accuracy. To do that, click on the auto-captions editor on the right-hand aspect of your video earlier than importing your video. 

From there, you may edit the captions manually and guarantee your movies are accessible. 

10. Share user-generated content material. 

TikTok permits customers to repost content material and share it with others. In the event you begin a problem on TikTok and also you see others collaborating, repost their movies to share user-generated content material.

You can too use the Sew and Duet options I discussed earlier to share user-generated content material whereas partaking along with your viewers.

11. Collaborate with influencers and creators.

Most TikTok customers desire to maintain up with creators and influencers as an alternative of manufacturers on the app, so it may be tough to get customers to change into invested in your content material for those who’re making an attempt to advertise a enterprise.

However worry not! There’s a answer. Attempt collaborating with creators and influencers to get them to introduce your model to your viewers. Simply make certain mentioned influencer or creator aligns properly along with your model and your target market’s overlap.

For instance, wallpaper model Dizzy With Pleasure collaborated with DIY residence decor creator Kaarin Pleasure by making a line of wallpaper patterns impressed by Kaarin’s DIY initiatives.

Kaarin is understood for quirky, out-of-this-world DIY initiatives, and DWE boasts an array of distinctive, funky patterns on its web site. So, Kaarin was an ideal option to introduce the model to a wider viewers. 

12. Create a content material collection.

A content material collection is an effective way to have interaction your viewers as a result of it gives a constant stream of content material they’ll stay up for and affiliate along with your model.

For instance, one in every of my favourite TikTok content material collection (that must be introduced again, please) is Sure That is on Etsy. This collection is on Etsy’s official TikTok account and showcases the enjoyable and distinctive merchandise that may be discovered on Etsy’s official website. 

Consider a collection of movies which are easy to make, might be unfold out over a number of movies, and might showcase the services and products of your model. 

13. Control what works to your viewers.

As you put up your movies, hold monitor of what generates essentially the most buzz to your platform. Which of your movies are likely to get essentially the most likes, feedback, or experiences?

Be certain your TikTok is a enterprise account so you may have entry to every kind of analytics and metrics that may inform your technique on the app.

14. Create TikTok Tales.

TikTok Tales work equally to Instagram Tales. They permit customers to put up quick movies that disappear after 24 hours. TikTok tales can drum up pleasure for upcoming movies or be used to point out fast, unique behind-the-scenes content material of your online business. 

15. Embrace CTAs.

If potential, all the time embrace a call-to-action that can encourage viewers to remain tuned to your content material.

For instance, Kaarin Pleasure nearly all the time ends her movies by asking her followers to counsel extra DIY residence enchancment initiatives within the feedback of her movies or to test again later for updates on her initiatives. 

In fact, if you do not know a superb CTA so as to add to your video, you may all the time persist with the basic name for viewers to observe your channel. 

16. Speak to your viewers. 

Neighborhood is essential on TikTok and one approach to construct neighborhood along with your followers on the app is to easily interact with them. Reply to their feedback, sew their movies, do a duet, or repost the content material that resonates along with your model. 

All of this can construct loyalty along with your viewers and enhance visibility to your model.

Begin Creating 

In the end, the important thing to rising your TikTok is to constantly create and put up high-quality content material that showcases your model. So begin creating now and when you’re at it, strive implementing any of the above suggestions I gave you.

I am additionally making an attempt to develop my new account, so it is time for me to cease typing and begin creating. Better of luck to each of us!